Football's philanthropists | Clarence Seedorf

Reuben Lewis explains to The Football Front the charity work that football legend Clarence Seedorf does.

Now the football season is over, interesting debates and incidents are minimal. Twitter is a hotbed for transfer bullshit, instigated by bored folk hunting for new followers to spew their in the know crap to. Thus, I decided that this summer I shall do a series on The Wonder of Wenger on football's most charitable players (in no particular order). It is certainly an interesting topic and one that I'm sure many will prefer over meaningless transfer gossip. My opener will be Clarence Seedorf - a man we all greatly admire as a footballer and hopefully after reading this, as a person.

A playing career which started before I was even born - in 1992 - would see Mr. Seedorf become one of Europe's most successful players. His tally for club honours is 20 (twenty!) which averages out to a trophy in every one of his 20 seasons as a player, while his individual honours are hardly scarce. He was named in Real Madrid's team of the century and also named by Pele as part of the FIFA 100, a list of the 100 greatest living players. Seedorf became the first ever footballer to win the Champions League on four occasions with three different teams; Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998 and AC Milan in 2003 and 2007. A tremendous achievement which will struggle to be beaten.

Aside from his remarkable playing career, Seedorf has invested heavily in charity. In 2005, Champions for Children was established, which is aimed to improve the lives of children in developing countries often by the means of sport and education.

“Witnessing the famine that strangled Ethiopia in the nineteen- eighties, when I was just a child, had a profound effect on me and sparked my desire to give and literally shaped my destiny. With this experience as a catalyst and seeing all the suffering around the globe, I made a vow in my youth to help hurting people and make a contribution to my world in as many ways as I could. Improving the quality of life through health and  education is my vision"  -Clarence Seedorf 

Seedorf was born in Suriname, a developing country in South America. Around half a million people are populated in and around the capital city, Parmaribo, yet there are just 4 hospitals. Champions for Children invested €110,000 in a neonatal respiratory care unit in order to provide care for newborns with respiratory deficiencies.

Due to his strong connection with his place of birth, Seedorf also invested €250,000 in the set up of the Para Junior Football League. Composed of 32 teams with players aged 9-15 years old, the project is aimed to "promote integrity and fair play" amongst the youth, giving them an alternative to life on the streets.

"My dream has always been to give back to this world and especially to children. By supporting education through sport, we can help build a brighter future and teach authentic life skills and community values.” -Clarence Seedorf

Since its foundation, Champions for Children has completed six projects in countries all over the world, such as Cambodia, Kenya, Brazil and of course Suriname. The charity invested €50,000 in sports facilities in seven schools in the Phnom Pehn district in Cambodia - one of Asia's poorest countries. Similar to the Para Football League, this project aims to provide young people with an alternative to life on the streets. Drug use is prevalent in Cambodia, and Champions for Children believe the investment in sports facilities is the best deterrent.

Moreover, the charity provided €150,000 for the construction of a secondary school in one of the largest slums in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. This provides over 250 thirteen to seventeen year olds the access to basic education, which they were devoid of beforehand.

Champions for Children then invested €50,000 in the construction of a sports and recreation centre in the favelas of Salvador De Bahia, Brazil's third largest city. Here, poverty is strife with almost 50% of the city's 3.5 million population living in 'structurally precarious' housing without sanitation. Gun crime is commonplace and the city is in desperate need of support. Thus, Seedorf's charity helped the government build the sports centre, which over 400 children utilize on a daily basis. Seedorf's vision of "improving the quality of life through health and education" is clearly one of substance.

Finally, Seedorf invested €80,000 in the construction of 'The Clarence Seedorf Playground' in Stedenwijk, Holland, where he grew up. This is a poor area and the playground - 6,400 sq. mt. long - aims to support the development of young people by teaching them life skills and values through sport.

“I not only want this playground to be a facility where kids can play sports but, also want it to be a place where kids develop their social and emotional skills” -Clarence Seedorf

Clarence Seedorf is now a free agent having left AC Milan, and if that marks the end of his remarkable playing career then I sincerely hope to see him move into management or coaching - there aren't many better role models.

It's players like him who ensure that football, engulfed by corruption and avarice, still has the power to change lives, as Mandela once said.


This Article was written by Reuben Lewis, you can find more of his work at The Wonder of Wenger. Reuben is on Twitter too: @Rlewisafc.

Video: AC Milan players sing happy birthday for Al Jazeera sports

This is an odd one. So a few months ago, it was the channel Al -Jazeera's birthday and the Milan players sung happy birthday for them. One would expect it to be terrible. But Robhino and Prince Boateng actually do a fine job!

Andrea Pirlo – A true legend of the game

There is current wave of euphoria in the red half of the great City of Milan this summer. The fans of the Rossoneri are currently basking in the glory of their clubs first Scudetto since 2004. Their most famous fan Silvio Berlusconi will of course be buoyed by this joyous season and will carry a great big Colgate smile into his campaign for re-election as Italy’s Prime minister. As we all know when Silvio Berlusconi smiles the sun shines in Italy.

However in AC Milan’s final training session of the season there was an air of sadness. Tears were being shed all round by the new Champions of Italy.

When grown men such as Filippo Inzaghi and Gennaro Gattuso are wiping their moist eyes it is for a very good reason. The reason is the training session was also a fair well to Andrea Pirlo. He announced his departure from the San Siro on the 18^th of May and we now know he will join Juventus. His team mates applauded him, they were all itching to hug him and console the man who had been such a leader for them on the pitch. Inzaghi threw a comforting arm around his team mate and walked with him as he left the training pitch for the last time, sobbing into his hand as he did it.

There was no doubt it was an emotional day in the Milan camp. The departure of Andrea Pirlo signals a new beginning for AC Milan and draws the curtain on an era which saw the Rossoneri reach 3 Champions League finals in 5 years becoming European Champions twice. Today is very much the day of Barcelona, they are the new dynasty of Europe. They are the side that we all admire and are never surprised to see in the Champions League final.

From the 2002/03 season to the 2006/07 season however, that team was AC Milan. Whilst the strikers in that time changed frequently featuring the likes of Shevchenko, Crespo, Inzaghi and Tomasson the midfield was consistent throughout. Milan adopted a diamond shape with Gattuso as the aggressive holding midfielder, Seedorf the smooth passer that would use his wit to beat many a defender. Kaka at the head behind the strikers, running at defenders and scoring goals that will live in the memory forever and of course the man who pulled the strings of everything Milan did: Andrea Pirlo.

Pirlo symbolised the Milan side of this time, passing the ball round with seeming ease, always finding a team mate and jogging about the pitch as if he owned it. As all great midfielders do, he chipped in with a goal every now and then. Often from a dead ball situation, he was the master at scoring a free kick to the left of the box between 20 and 25 yards from the goal. Pirlo was what Xavi is for Barcelona right now. The Italian’s stats indicate this too.

During the 02/03 season, in which AC Milan won the Champions League. Pirlo completed an amazing 2093 passes. A stat which averages 90 successful passes per game. In the season of their next European triumph (06/07) Pirlo spent a staggering 2782 minutes on the pitch, the most of any Milan player that season. That along with the 32 goals in 284 appearances earned Andrea the nick name: The Metronome.

Now at the tender age of 32 and with the emergence of a new generation of Milan midfielders (the likes of Flamini, Boateng, Van Bommel etc.) Andrea has called it a day with the side he joined in 2001. It has been a magnificent 10 years which will earn him his place in Milan folklore along with the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Marko Van Basten, Cesare and Paolo Maldini, Frank Rijkaard and Filippo Inzaghi.

The term ‘legend of the game’ may be thrown about a little too much these days. But I very much doubt anybody will disagree with you when using the term with Andrea Pirlo.

Juventus, you don’t know how lucky you are.

by Kevin Leonard, you can follow him on his Twitter - @megatronSTALIN, Kevin regularly writes for Away Goals too.

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Why Gennaro Gattuso would be an interesting asset for the Premier League

So Gennaro Gattuso most definitely showed his fiery character today. Everybody knows Gattuso for his tenacious challenges. And today Gattuso was angry. Really angry. One image comes to my mind. Gattuso's reaction to receiving a yellow card.

His behaviour at times was indefensible. The attacks on Spurs Joe Jordan was simply inexcusable. It was embarrassing for everyone related to Ac Milan. Even a certain Mathieu Flamini went into the Spurs changing room to apologise. Fair play to Flamini. He did a noble and professional gesture.

But I'm not going to lie. Watching Gattuso excites me. He is a crazy player, who jumps into challenges and gets the crowd going. He also has the ability to rub opposing players the wrong way. Ask Christian Poulsen and even current Ac Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimović. Both in the past have been critical of Gattuso's behaviour towards them. But at the same time, he can also motivate his team with his fearless characteristics.

One thing Gattuso is brilliant at doing is creating havoc. He is a player who can make the atmosphere and tempo more fierce. Take Spurs' visit to Milan. Gattuso's anger spiced the atmosphere around the San Siro. Thus resulting in both sides being far more aggressive and thorwing challenges in. Arguably, Ac Milan were far more aggressive througout the game in comparison to Spurs.

I'd love to see Gattuso in the Premier League. Simply because he would make it even more entertaining. His committed and tenacious attitude will frighten some players, while for others it will actually spur them to play better. Take Crouch's good preformance today. As the game went on, Crouch played better and looked far more motviated. This was due to his continous run-ins with Gattuso throughout the match.

But one things for sure. Have Gattuso in your team, and you know you will have a player who will spark controversy and havoc. Some will argue, its good we don't have anyone like that in our game. Fair point, Gattuso is a player who doesnt exactly follow the laws of the game. But for me, he made today's game far more entertaining.

I hate to say it but everybody loves a dirty player. (Just not when your playing against them.) We all secretly love to hate Robbie Savage and Roy Keane. The Premier League has been missing players like Keane and Savage. Of course Gattuso wont come to the Premier League anytime soon. But if he did, he would be a very very interesting asset for the League.

But boy, the Premier League have even more sparks flying if he was about.


Watch Gattuso's headbutt on Joe Jordan here;